Covering the blossoming startup industry in Portland, Oregon, and the Silicon Forest

June 23rd, 2009

Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN) could use your help

If you’re a startup in the Portland area, you’ve probably come into contact with the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN). And if you haven’t, you should. The OEN is a non-profit organization focused on helping your startup make it through the initial phases of building a business. From helping first-time entrepreneurs learn the ropes to giving startups the opportunity to practice their pitches to helping seasoned entrepreneurs find funding through events like Angel Oregon, the OEN uses its available resources to ensure that Oregon has a healthy entrepreneurial scene.

But all of that could be in jeopardy if we don’t act quickly.

You see, Meyer Memorial Trust has awarded OEN a grant, but it’s a matching funds grant. That means OEN’s money is contingent upon one small thing: raising $50,000 by June 30.

We are asking you to step forward and support our entrepreneurs. Help us nurture job development and small business development with a donation to OEN. We must preserve self-employed businesses and support their growth if we are to successfully recover from this economic downturn.

For the most part, this organization is about giving entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch their ideas to investors. Now they need money for operations, isn’t this a tad ironic? Where is the money going to come from?

What OEF should do here is become an entrepreneur and show their own membership their business plan on how to become a sustainable business. The people they should be seeking operational funds from is their own membership and the Oregon Angel Fund.